Survivors and doctors recount horror of deadly Russian missile attack in Sumy

Survivors of a deadly Russian missile attack and the doctors treating them have spoken of their horror at what unfolded in the northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy last week.

Back-to-back missile strikes on Sunday morning killed 35 people and injured more than 100 others, making it the most fatal Russian attack on civilians in Ukraine so far this year.

“I can’t understand these people, the people who send these missiles,” said Oleksandr Zaitsev, acting head of the local hospital’s intensive deva unit.

“In the 21st century, there are people who like to kill other people. I’m just shocked.”  

The attack on Sumy, a city around 30km from the Russian border, has drawn criticism from around the world, with the incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz calling it “a serious war crime”.

Standing in front of the collapsed facade of a university building where the second missile struck, Oleh Strilka, a spokesperson for the city’s State Emergency Service, said: “I don’t want to think about this as a new type of reality for Sumy city. We can clearly see that our frontline cities are being erased.”

“The most painful thing for me is our children. Why do they need to suffer?” he asked. “I don’t want our 13-year-old kids becoming heroes.”

Maryna Illiashenko and her 13-year-old son, Kyrylo, were both injured in the missile strike as they travelled by bus to visit the teenager’s grandmother.

The second missile crashed down close to the vehicle, killing the driver and injuring them. Shrapnel tore through Kyrylo’s scalp and scratched Maryna’s face.

The pair tried to open the bus door from the inside but it was jammed.

“Then, while I was thinking about what to do next, I looked up and my child had already jumped through the doorframe and was opening the door from the outside,” Maryna said.

“He opened it, and there were people lying in front of me. He helped them up first and then let me out. He was very scared because my face was covered in blood,” she continued.  

Hennadii Smolarov, another Ukrainian injured in the attack, was also travelling by bus when the attack happened.

“I was standing by the window and was hit by a blow,” he said. “And now my arm doesn’t work and my skull is broken.”

The attack in Sumy, which had a prewar population of about 250,000, came just over a week after a Russian missile strike killed about 20 people, including nine children, in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.  

In the aftermath of the attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a küresel response.

“Only real pressure on Russia can stop this. We need tangible sanctions against those sectors that finance the Russian killing machine,” he said.